Aries of the Techno World
by TheNotoriousNovelist
Summary: Inspired by one of my fave fanfics, Aries in Wonderland. Aries falls down a hole and lands in a strange place called the Techno World. There, she meets the 12 Digital Zodiac that's been down one member since her counterpart, Aries the Techno Ram, was killed 2 years ago. The Techno World is a fantastical place but why is she there? ON HIATUS
1. Prologue: Dedigitalization

**Inspired by an awesome fanfic called "Aries in Wonderland" that I love! This is a lot more technical though (like Tron but awesome).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.**

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><p><span>Aries of the Techno World<span>

Prologue:

Dedigitalization

_...Techno World..._

Leo the Techno Lion could have sworn time slowed down as she was thrown back. Aries the Techno Ram fell to the black metallic ground and slid a few feet away. The leader of the 12 Digital Zodiac ran to her side and held her in his arms. Aries' pink fluffy hair seemed to have lost its bounce and hung around her shoulders. The blue diamond marking around her left eye lost its sheen and seemed to be fading away. Aries' left side of her torso was completely blown away to reveal the glowing green digital code that made her. Her blue mini-dress was ripped around the shattered code.

"A-Aries?" Leo gasped in shock "D-Don't worry... I'll get you to a programmer and your coding will be fixed,"

Before he could lift her, she reached up and cupped his cheek. He looked down to see tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

"Leo... there's a virus... a programmer can't fix that," she said, shaking her head as if talking to a disobedient child "Th-Thank you... for being there for... me..." and her hand slid from his cheek.

Leo watched as the toes of Aries' blue boots disappeared into red corrupted code. She continued to disappear and her green leggings-clad lower half disappeared too, going up to her waist and the tips of her fingers disappeared also. Her green-sleeved upper arms vanished and her armour-plaited shoulders followed.

Leo watched in shock with tears in his eyes as her smiling face disappeared and she was... gone. He couldn't feel the ghost of her presence in his arms anymore and he fell forward, hunching over on the ground. His tears fell from his eyes and landed on the cool metal ground beneath them. The rest of the 12 Digital Zodiac stepped forward and watched as their leader completely broke down. They all knew when someone's dedigitalization, their coding could never be retrieved.

Aries the Techno Ram was gone... forever.


	2. Chapter 1: Arrival in Another Place

Aries of the Techno World

Chapter 1:

Arrival in Another Place

_...Celestial Spirit World..._

Aries awoke in her little cabin in a Spring meadow. She got out of her little wooden box of a bed and slid her feet into her lamb slippers before standing up. She wrapped her pink sleeping gown on and hopped over to the kitchen area to make herself breakfast.

Aries had just about finished her morning routine when there was a knock on her door. Since she had gotten dressed already, she answered only to see no one there. She looked down to see an unnaturally blue flower grown through the grass at her doorstep. Aries looked up to see a line of these strange flowers leading into the forest. Out of curiosity, she began to follow the line of flowers.

As she got further into the woods, the flowers seemed to become even less natural and even became close to transparent. Aries tried to pick one but it shattered like glass between her fingers. She looked up to see them go down into a hole between tree roots. She looked down it to see the flowers growing directly down the side of the hole. But, there was a dim light at the bottom of it.

"What the heck is that?" Aries asked herself and leaned in.

There was a sudden gust of wind that pulled down the hole and she felt her hands slip. She went gumbling down the hall and she clawed at the moss covered hole walls. Aries' heart pounded in her chest as she looked up at the fast disappearing sky from above.

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><p>The poor Lamb Spirit was soon plunged into darkness. All she could see was pitch blackness and the only indications she as falling was the feel of the wind as it turned passed her. Then... the wind stopped. Aries saw a little light come floating upwards and a little blue bubble appeared in front of her nose. Soon, another bubble appeared except in green. The blue and green glowing bubbles quickly surrounded her and lit up the endless hole she was falling down.<p>

"I..." her voice sounded strange in the darkness "I wonder how far I've fallen... or for how long..."

The bubbles began to increase in amount and Aries felt her fall become slowed until she was laying on a bed of glowing green-and-blue bubbles. She breathed heavily as her heart raced from the fall. As soon as she tried to sit up, the bed of bubbles popped beneath her and she fell again but she landed with a _thump!_

Aries looked around and looked down. Surprisingly, her clothes had somehow changed. She now wore a white fluffy summer dress with a pink short-sleeved t-shirt underneath, pink leggings and her usual white fluffy boots. Around her waist was a pink ribbon tied into a bow behind her back. Her hair was also combed out but retained its curly/fluffy ends with a brown headband to keep it back with an attached yellow bow. Aries got to her feet and looked around her surroundings. She was in a dark room with glowing green dots on the ceiling. Nervously, she stepped forward and noticed a table with a glowing green frame. On the table was a note that read:

**A17T42G74F**

Aries looked around and saw doors with keypads by them around the circular room. Worriedly, she took the note and began punching the code in but none of the doors opened. Discouraged, she sat down at the table and put the note down on the table again. When she looked back at the note, there was a glowing green card beside it. Aries could have sworn that wasn't there before. She picked it up and read what was written on it.

"Download me? What does that mean?" she asked.

With no other ideas, she pressed the arrow that blinked under the caption. Aries felt a tingle go through her finger, up her arm and into her entire being. All of a sudden, she found herself flying downwards as she shrunk down to the size of a door mouse.

Aries looked at herself and looked around. How had she shrunk? Not knowing what to do, she began to steadily walk across the room and noticed a tiny door she hadn't noticed when she was big.

"I wonder where that door leads," she wondered.

Aries ran up to the door and saw a keypad next to it. This had to be the right door! She was about to punch in the code when she realized she couldn't remember it. She turned to look at the table with the note and tried to climb the table leg but it was too slippery. With an exasperated gasp, Aries sat down and leaned against the table leg. She looked down and saw yet another card that said "Download Me" on it. Thinking nothing else could make things any worse, she pressed the button.

When the tingling passed, Aries shot up and hit her head against the ceiling. Not again! She groaned and curled up to cry. Her tears fell and splashed on the floor in gallons. Aries felt the fluffiness of her outfit become heavy from the tears. She reached down and picked up the shrinking card again. It sparked from the water damage and she pressed it again.

It sparked and electricity shot around her. Aries shrieked and dropped the card into the pool of tears. The electricity shot around her and the floor disappeared around the short-circuiting card. Aries tried to move from the disappearing floor but was too big. A spark of electricity hit her and she shot down as she shrunk to her average size. Despite this, she couldn't outrun the disappearing floor and found herself falling for the second time that day.

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><p>The sky looked strange like a dark blue dome with lighter blue lines crossing it in a criss-cross pattern. There was a black hole from where she fell. Aries turned around in the air and looked down to see herself falling diagonally to the only landmass in this strange space. Screaming, she landed at full speed into a group of trees. The leaves and twigs scratched at her until she landed on the ground. Aries opened her eyes and looked around.<p>

"Where the heck am I?" she asked no one in particular.


	3. Chapter 2: The World around You

Aries of the Techno World

Chapter 2:

The World around You

Aries checked that nothing was broken before surveying her surroundings. The ground seemed to be made of black metal and everything seemed to be black or neon. Her outfit had changed yet again to be an un-fluffy white mini-dress with pink leggings and a pink short-sleeved t-shirt underneath. She had white knee-high combat boots and armour plaiting on her shoulders. Unknown to her, she also had a pink diamond around her left eye. Aries got to her feet and patted herself down before stepping out of the trees. Far off, there was a city within tall metal walls. It seemed to be the only inhabited place on the landmass so she headed for it.

"I wonder where I am. I didn't know there was a metal city within the planetary body I live on," Aries said, looking around at the strange place.

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><p>2 years... it had been 2 years since Aries was dedigitalized and her code returned to the network. Leo could never let her go. She had died in his arms and he could never forget the feeling of her disappearing in his arms. It was this reason that the Techno Lion was returning to the site of the battle that killed his love. The area had been purged of any reminiscent virus so it was safe to return. Leo looked off the edge of the world at the dome surrounding. He could always feel close to Aries where her code had joined the network.<p>

"Aries... my love..." he said, looking at the last digi-lily that she had made for him before dying "I'll never be able to let you go..."

Aries the Techno Ram had had the uncanny ability to manipulate code to create things such as flowers. Her lilies were always the most beautiful of her creations and they tended to pop up whenever she was excited. Leo never let himself show emotion around people since her death but, when he came to the site of her dedigitalization, he'd let the tears fall. He let the blue flower fall from his hand and land on the ground.

"OW! Oh, what am I doing? I don't even know where I am!" he heard someone exclaim.

Leo wiped his eyes before turning to see who it was. He saw someone trying to pull themself from a hole in the ground. Strange, no one ever came out here. They say the site of someone's dedigitalization was bad luck.

"Someone! Anyone! Help me!" the person cried out.

Leo shook his head and stepped forward.

"Don't worry, I've gotch'ya," he said, taking the person's hands.

He pulled them up with as much strength as he could muster but there was increased gravity pulling the person down. With a mighty heave-ho, he pulled them up. The person crashed into him as they were freed from the hole.

Aries opened her eyes and moved some of her loose hair out of her eyes. She looked down and realized she had fallen onto Leo. He seemed more than surprised to see her and they steadily sat up.

"Leo? How did you get here? Where are we?" Aries asked him, mistaking him for her Leo.

"A-Aries? H-How? You... you died! You died in my arms!" Leo exclaimed, taking hold of her shoulders with a shocked expression "How are you back?! Your code went into the network! How-"

He looked into her eyes. Her _brown_ eyes... the Aries he always knew had had one dark neon-blue eye and one light neon-green eye that matched her usual colour choice. With this realization, Leo knew this wasn't _his_ Aries...

"Who are you?!" he suddenly asked in a slightly harsh tone "Why do you look exactly like Aries? Tell me!"

"I-I-I-" Aries stammered "I don't know! I didn't even know a place like this existed! I'm sorry!"

Leo saw how he had frightened her and this further shocked him. The Aries he had known was confident in her ability to get the job done but this girl seemed timid and scared.

"Who are you?" he asked in a low voice after letting go of her.

"M-My name is Aries... Aries the Ram! I... I don't know what's going on! I fell down a hole and I ended up here... W-What do you mean I died?" Aries stammered, feeling overwhelmed by this encounter.

Leo jumped back from her and into a position reminiscent to a lion stalking its prey.

"It wasn't you... 2 years ago, Aries the Techno Ram was dedigitalized by a wound that was infected by a virus. I don't know _who _ you are but you're _not_ the Techno Ram," Leo said "I'm Leo the Techno Lion,"

"Techno? What does that even mean?" Aries asked.

"For real? Where the heck do you come from? Everyone here knows about Techno," Leo said "You ain't a glitch, are you?"

"No! I don't even know what a glitch is!" the Ram exclaimed "I come from the Celestial Spirit World and I just want to go back!"

The Techno Lion looked at her skeptically until he noticed a cut on her arm. He suddenly grabbed her arm to check it out and he gasped at the sight of blood. Leo stumbled back in shock and began to tremble slightly as if afraid of her.

"Y-Y-You're organic!" he exclaimed "St-Stay a-away from me!"

He lept to his feet and began to run away on all fours.

"W-Wait!" Aries exclaimed and she tried to run after him only to find she had hurt her ankle when she fell into the hole.

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><p>The rest of the 12 Digital Zodiac were in their penthouse headquarters in the middle of Techno City. Since they couldn't be the <em>12<em> Digital Zodiac without a 12th member, they'd been looking for a new 12th member but, since the final decision was Leo's, no one had been picked. They were looking over the resumés of people who had applied when Leo came storming back into the room. The Techno Lion had really gone downhill over the past 2 years. He used to dress rather business/casual but now he was just a mess with a wrinkled untucked shirt, untied tie around his neck and old black jeans.

"Hey, Leo, what's up? You seem more angsty than usual," Scorpio asked.

"There's an organic," Leo hissed.

"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed in fright.

"And she... and she looks like Aries!" Leo said through gritted teeth "Report it. I'll be in my rooms," and, with this order, he stormed back out.

Aquarius fluttered her dragonfly wings to lift herself into the air and used her tail to perpell herself through the air and to the communication system. Unlike her Spirit World counterpart, Aquarius the Techno Water-Bearer was a Water Nymph instead of a mermaid and so she also had wings.


	4. Chapter 3: Digital Arrest

Aries of the Techno World

Chapter 3:

Digital Arrest

Aries slowly made her way towards the city despite her injured ankle. She needed to get some help and fast. She couldn't believe any version of Leo could be so cruel as to abandon an injured person. Then again, this world's Aries was dead and he seemed to blame himself so maybe that had changed him? Either way, this "Leo" was definitely nothing like her Leo. Gosh, she kept referring to him as "her Leo" and it made her blush. But, would she ever see him again?

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><p>Meanwhile, Leo was in his sleeping chamber, laying back on his bed and throwing a ball at the ceiling. It bounced back to him until he just threw it aside. Not seeing where he tossed it, the ball hit a crooked picture. It wasn't until he heard it smash on the ground did he realize he had hit something. Begrudgingly, Leo brushed away the glass into a bin before realizing what picture had been smashed.<p>

Himself and that world's Aries dancing together at their favourite hangout. He fell to his knees as his trembling hands held the picture and just stared at the picture of her smile. Her angelic smile that brightened his day every time he saw it. Her head was resting on his shoulder after they agreed to be together.

"A-Aries... I never got to say goodbye to you, my love," Leo said, gently putting his fingers to the picture.

He felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth as he thought of his lost love:

_"Leeeooo... come ooon," Aries whined "You've been doing paperwork for _eons_! We're all going to the Digital-Z Lounge, it's named after us after all. Let's have some fun!"_

_ Leo rubbed his temples before smiling at her._

_"Okay, let's have some fun," he said and she excitedly pulled him from his chair._

_When they got there, Aries pulled him onto the dance floor only for a slow song to start. Awkwardly, they put their arms around each other and stepped to the music._

_"So, how do you feel about... us?" the Techno Ram asked him._

_ Leo spun her, held her from behind then dipped her._

_"You know I love you, Aries," he said before lifting her back up "I'd love to be with you,"_

_"Good," said Aries "Because I want to be with you," and she wrapped her arms around him._

_She closed her different coloured eyes and rested her head against his shoulder. Leo wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. That was when Gemini the Techno Twins took a picture of the two to commemorate the moment the two of them got together._

Leo got to his feet and put the picture on his mirror between the glass and the frame. He then proceeded to swipe away everything on the dressing table then tip over the waste paper basket. He was in a frantic rage.

"I just want to hold you in my arms! To hear your voice! To see you smile!" he shouted and collapsed onto the ground "and to feel your kiss..." tears began to form in his eyes and drip onto the carpet "Why, Aries? Why do you have to be gone?" he threw his head up and yelled "ARIES! All I want is to wrap my arms around you, say I love you and kiss you just to prove it!"

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><p>Aries had collapsed from exhaustion but looked up to see lights heading for her. At that moment, she didn't care who they were. She just wanted to not be scared.<p>

"Is this the organic that was reported by the 12 Digital Zodiac?" someone asked.

"She's cut and bleeding rather than shattered and code exposed," said another "Well, let's take her in,"

"Hang on, she looks just like Aries the Techno Ram!" the first one exclaimed.

"Well, duh, that's what the report said!" the second one reminded the first.

They turned Aries onto her back and handcuffed her wrists and ankles together. Then they lifted her up as if she was nothing and tossed her into the back of a van. She managed to muster enough strength to sit up and look around the van. There was a '_thump' _and a '_vvvrrr'_ sound before the van began to move. Aries curled up in fright as she had no idea where she was going.

They said she had been reported. That could only mean Leo had turned her in. But for what? What did they mean she was "organic" and why was that so bad here? Where was "here" anyway? Too many questions and no answers but the main one was what happened to her counterpart? She had died but under what circumstances? Oh! It didn't matter at the moment! Aries just wanted to go home...

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><p>There was a knock on the door and Gemini entered Leo's bedroom to see him laying on the floor. Gemi and Mini had light blue skin and black hair and appeared to be about 8-years-old. Gemi's hair was ragged and he wore black dungarees with a green t-shirt underneath while Mini had shoulder-length hair with a butterfly hairclip and wore an orange pinifore with a yellow t-shirt underneath. The both of them had brown belts around their waists. Gemi and Mini would both occasionally glitch out because... well... the Techno Twins were initially meant to be only one person but a glitch in their programming caused them to be created as two so they were, in a way, half glitch. Twins were unheard of in the Techno World until them and, due to them supposed to be one person, they could combine themselves to become anything (or anyone). This led to them taking up one of the positions in the 12 Digital Zodiac despite their young age (they'd been members since they were 4).<p>

"Hey, Leo, they brought in that-" began Gemi.

"-organic you found," continued Mini "She's in-"

"-the holding cells at the citadel," finished Gemi.

Leo just waved them off before turning onto his side to have his back to them. The Techno Twins both huffed and both began to think of the few memories they had of their world's Aries (they both had access to each other's memory banks). They were only 6 when Aries died but they had memories of her sneaking them sweets and using her ability over code to cheer them up.

They also remembered being very sad when she died...


	5. Chapter 4: Releasing Aries

Aries of the Techno World

Chapter 4:

Releasing Aries

Aries sat curled up in a totally white cell that hurt her eyes. The walls to her left and right were glass and the cells were stacked on top of each other. She felt like Leo had betrayed her but she just kept telling herself it wasn't "her Leo" that had done it. Either way, tears were in her eyes and she felt her heart breaking.

"Leo... why?" Aries asked herself, curling up on the bench.

Those... people... had given her bandages and splints to treat herself since they didn't know how to treat an "organic". Why did they keep calling her that? She knew what it meant (that she was made of living tissue and was a natural living being). But, why did they treat her as if she was different? Weren't they all organic too? How couldn't they be? That's what all living creatures were...

"What am I going to do?" said Aries, putting her face in her hands.

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><p>Leo put his head in his hands as he thought about the Aries' he had encountered in his life. How could he have left an injured person all alone like that? His Aries would have slapped him and ordered him to go back. When did he become so cruel and cynical? He hadn't even used his powers since her death... Now, just because she was an organic, an innocent girl was in jail. And not just any girl... it was Aries!<p>

"What have I done?" Leo asked himself "Aries would hate the person I've become..."

With that, he went over to his closet and opened it, breaking the lock rather than using the key. He couldn't believe he was about to do this but he was... Leo unbuttoned his raggedy old shirt and pulled a grey t-shirt on before grabbing a jacket. He ran through the penthouse as he pulled his jacket on, causing the rest of the Zodiac to turn their heads.

"Uh, Leo? Where are you going?" Libra asked him.

"Oh, just getting someone out of a bad situation. Hey, where's my racer?" he said before spotting his neglected racer (which was a metal stick that's use would be explained later) "Don't wait up and, oh, I might become a fugitive in the next hour or so," and he left.

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><p>Aries was still crying in her cell when she heard what sounded like electricity and a... lion's roar? She became scared and hid under the cell bench. Electricity sparked into view and Leo appeared outside of her cell.<p>

"Wh-What a-are you... why-why are you here?" Aries cried.

Leo put his hand to the glass and electricity sparked from it. The electricity spread out across the glass and it seemed to disappear from existence.

"Look, I'm sorry. It's the anniversary of my Aries' death and seeing you just made something within me snap," Leo apologized "But, I'm busting you out and helping you back to your own world,"

Aries steadily got out from under the bench and shakily walked over to him. He took her hand and helped her over the threshold of the cell. For a moment, she saw a glint of pain and wanting in his eyes and they just looked into each other's eyes. Only a second later, guards came running their way and he pushed her behind him to protect her.

Leo lifted his fists up in a defense position and reclenched them. Electricity sparked around them and his puples slimmed to resemble a lion's with a low growl.

"_Electro-Regulus_," he said under his breath.

Leo put his hands together before steadily parting them and generating even more electricity.

"_Electro-Lion_," he growled.

The Electro-Regulus shot out from between his hands and took the shape of a proud lion. It gave out a roar lined with the spark of electricity and it leapt forward. Leo then turned and pushed Aries in front of him.

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><p>Leo led her outside, shooting out Electro-Regulus at any guard that came their way. Aries nervously held his hand so they wouldn't get separated. He took his racer out from his jacket and pulled Aries behind him.<p>

"Put your arms around me and stay still," he said.

Aries, a gentle blush on her cheeks, put her arms around his torso from behind and nervously stayed still. Leo took hold of each end of his racer and pulled, revealing a glowing blue tube within in. Out of nowhere, metal began unfolding from the racer and "grew" beneath them into a motorbike, leaving them sitting on it with Leo in the seat and Aries behind him. Surprised, she wrapped her arms around him in fright and the racer began to make a '_vvvrrr_' sound. With a screech, it was off.

* * *

><p>Aries tightened her grip around Leo as she hadn't experienced riding on a racer before (or any vehicle for that matter). She squeezed her eyes shut and didn't look where he was taking her (as long as it was away from that dreadful prison). She could hear a strange sound from within Leo actually. It wasn't a hearbeat but a '<em>vvvrrr<em>' sound not unlike the machines here sounded like except it was more intricate and... she wasn't sure of how to explain it. It had a... twinkling... sound to it and a... wavering... noise.

Aries was so focused on figuring out the noise within Leo that she didn't realize they'd stopped in an area surrounded by cliffs. He got off his racer and gave her a hand getting off before pushing the handle bars together and retracting his racer. Leo put his racer back in his jacket and took her wrist.

"Come on. We ain't in the clear yet," he said and he tugged her along.

The Techno Lion took her into a dark cave where she felt the lack of existence pound against her like being underwater. Aries gripped his hand as tightly as possible as he pulled her through.


	6. Chapter 5: A Ram is a Ram but Not Really

Aries of the Techno World

Chapter 5:

A Ram is a Ram... but not Really

The void of darkness suddenly dropped down and Aries fell down with a shriek but Leo kept a cool head. Out of nowhere, the fall came to an end and they landed on what seemed to be a large mushroom. When she looked up, Aries gasped at the beauty. The area seemed to give off a blue glow with a 360° view of nonexistence and a wall of steep rock behind them. The ground and wall was decorated with blue glass-like flowers that were either in little clusters or several rows of them. The mushroom was dark blue with slightly paler blue dots on it.

"Where are we?" Aries asked.

"This is a Glitch Zone. It's not part of the Network and is the result of excess data," Leo explained "It's risky to leave the Network to get to Glitch Zones but you don't rely on the Network to sustain yourself and I've modded my coding to sustain itself just long enough,"

"It's beautiful here," she said and she reached out to touch the nonexistence reaching out before them.

Leo turned from her and sighed, his fists clenched.

"Your counterpart loved it here too... she helped me change my code so we could get here..." he said and looked at her "She..." he gulped as if holding back a sob "She loved the... she loved the flowers," and he hid his face in his hand.

Aries was surprised to see him crying but no tears escaped from between his fingers. Nervously, she raised her hand to comfort him but stopped midway when she realized he may not _want _her to do so. She steadily began to move her hand again to put it on his shoulder. Out of nowhere, Leo grabbed her wrist with incredible speed and looked at her. They just looked at each other and Aries saw sadness in his eyes.

"Aries... I-I just... I miss..." he stammered.

He turned to her and suddenly kissed her. It was completely out of nowhere but he quickly pulled back. Aries was stunned at the sudden kiss but that's not to say she didn't like it. She just wished it came from her Leo.

"I... am so sorry!" he suddenly exclaimed "It's just that... you look just like my Aries except for your eyes and I just... I haven't seen her in 2 years and I... I miss her so much... I wish I could just... hold her one more time, tell her I love her and just... just be able to say goodbye..."

Aries put her hand on his shoulder and gently began to rub it to comfort him.

"I understand, Leo, you just want closure for your lost love's death. Subconsciously, you were kissing your Aries because you want her back so much," she said "But, you've got to understand that I'm not her and I... I care about the Leo in _my _world... even if he only sees me as a friend,"

"If he's anything like me, then he's secretly in love with you," said Leo, wrapping his arms around his knees "You remind me of her except her favourite colours were dark blue and light green while yours seem to be pink and white... you know... my Aries' had been considering dying her hair blue before she died,"

The White Lamb looked at him with sadness.

"How did... she die?" she asked him, worriedly.

"Well... we were... I..." Leo stammered but then relaxed and took a deep breath "It was 2 years ago and we'd been dating for 7 months. I was nearing my 17th birthday and... heh... Aries was being Aries and insisting I celebrate it rather than stay in and do paperwork..."

* * *

><p><em>"Leo, it's your birthday," said Aries, kneeling next to him on the sofa "and I want to take my boyfriend out,"<em>

_"Aries... you _know_ celebrating isn't my style," said Leo and he tugged her horn "Please, drop it, babe?"_

_Aries sat back and crossed her arms with a glare on her face._

_"Leo! You always do this! You can't just- UHH! You can be so annoying sometimes! Why do you always lock yourself away?" she asked "Please, Leo! You claim to love me and yet you won't let me in!"_

_Leo looked at her with hurt but understood where she was coming from. He sat up and pulled her into his arms. Aries struggled at first but couldn't break free so she let out a huff._

_"I'm sorry for making you feel this way but, please, never doubt that I _love_ you with all my heart," he said "I know I don't let people in very easily and that's unfair on you but, please, don't give up on me. I try to let myself go but I always retreat into my walls to prevent myself from getting hurt..."_

_"I'd never hurt you on purpose, Leo," said Aries, snuggling up to him._

_"I know and I know I have trust issues," said Leo "I'll chip away at the wall from the inside and you chip away at the wall from the outside and we'll knock it down together,"_

_Aries smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck._

_"So, what do you want to do for your birthday?" she asked him with a smile "If you want to do anything, that is,"_

_Before he could say anything, there was an alert from the computer. All of the 12 Digital Zodiac ran to it and Leo quickly decrypted the message._

_"What is it, hun?" Aries asked, putting an arm around him._

_"Reports of virus activity in Quadrant #92743.3795. That's really far out from Techno City," said Leo, bringing up the hologram of the report stats._

_"Virus activity? Who'd be deranged enough to write something to obliterate data?" Virgo asked, holding her hands together like the puritan she was._

_"Must be someone who's memory banks are messed up," said Gemini (no one knew which one had spoken)._

_"Either way," said Leo "Let's go,"_

* * *

><p>Aries looked at the Techno Lion beside her and reassuringly smiled at him. He seemed too emotionally drained to continue at that time so she slid off the mushroom and curled up among the flowers to sleep. Leo also got off the mushroom and laid over a soft moss covered rock like a lion would. He smiled as Aries began to let out the most adorable little snores as her counterpart once had.<p>

"Goodnight," he said "I'll help you back to your world... somehow,"

With this, Leo relaxed his stiff form and fell asleep. It was the most peaceful sleep he had had in 2 long years...


	7. Chapter 6: Seeing Red

Aries of the Techno World

Chapter 6:

Seeing Red

When they awoke the next day, Leo continued to explain the circumstances of the other Aries' death...

* * *

><p><em>"Moo! You're looking <em>hot _Madame Aries!" moo'd Taurus the Techno Bull._

_Taurus' robotic eye turned on and a red beam of light scanned her._

_"That better not have been an X-Ray, you demented cyborg cow!" Aries threatened him, shaking her fist._

_Leo walked into the rec room of their transport ship and began upturning the furniture without an explanation._

_"Uh, babe? What are you doing?" Aries asked, forgetting she was threatening Taurus again._

_"Anyone seen Libra? She's so stealthy it's hard to know if she's even with us," the Techno Lion said, looking under a couch cushion "It's nearly impossible to tell where she's going to pop out,"_

_Out of nowhere, a girl in a dark green ninja suit appeared standing on the wall in a puff of smoke._

_"GAAH! Libra! Don't do that!" Leo exclaimed._

_With another smokebomb, Libra disappeared and left the others alone. Aries walked up to the Techno Lion and put her arm around his waist before kissing him._

_"How far are we?" the Techno Ram asked him, lazily resting her head on his shoulder._

_"Not far. We'll be there soon," said Leo, putting his arm around her "C'mon, we should get ready for landing,"_

_Aries kissed his cheek before walking out of the rec room. Once the automatic sliding door had shut behind her, Leo turned to Taurus with a primal look in his eye that said his "inner lion" was ready to attack._

_"Don't you _ ever _hit on Aries again. Got it?" he growled._

_Taurus stepped back in fear of the Techno Lion._

_"G-Got it, Boss. I-I was... only joking. I kn-know she's... your girl," the Techno Bull stammered, backing away even more when Leo stepped forward._

_Even though there was no chance of Aries cheating on him or someone stealing her from him (she wasn't that kind of girl), Leo's lion instincts often caused him to feel threatened. Because of this, he'd react in the big way of threatening the other guy. Luckily, Aries understood this because she often battled with her ram instincts to run and hide._

_Leo reached up and yanked Taurus' head down by his horn._

_"I don't _care_ if you were joking. _No one_ tries to steal Aries from me!" he growled through gritted teeth and forced the Techno Bull to the floor._

_"Babe? You coming? Or are you going to keep threatening Taurus?" _

_Leo snapped out of his primal state and looked back to see Aries in the doorway. Her arms were crossed and she leaned against the door frame. Sheepishly, Leo walked over to her with his head down. With a playful smile, Aries flicked his forehead then proceeded to kiss it better._

_"C'mon, we're landing soon," she said and they all walked out to head to the landing bay._

XxX

_ When they landed, Leo barely noticed because Aries was messing with his hair. He tugged her curly horn to get her to stop and they smiled at each other. Man, did he love her. He wanted to spend his life with her! Aries smiled at him and pulled him down the transport ship's ramp. She kept hold of his hand as the 12 Digital Zodiac walked out onto the empty metallic plain. _

_"Well, this looks like a-" began Gemi._

_"-total bust," finished Mini._

_"Perhaps they saw the error in their ways?" Virgo asked, her hands forever clasped together in a puritan manour._

_"Doubtful," said Leo and he reluctantly let go of his girlfriend's hand._

_The Techno Lion got on his knees and put his ear to the ground._

_"Hear anything, sweetheart?" Aries asked, getting on her knees beside him "The code here doesn't feel right,"_

_"There's definitely something down there but it could just be a glitch in the area's coding," Leo said, straightening up._

_There was a shuddering and the ground beneath them split apart. The 12 Digital Zodiac ran from the hole opening up and Leo and Aries were separated._

_"What the heck, dude? What is this?" Cancer asked._

_Through the hole in the ground, a tank-like vehicle ascended and drove onto the surface. Everyone watched it in confusion as it turned to them. The end of the cannon sparked with red electricity and Leo's eyes widened._

_"Move!" he shouted._

_The cannon fired a stream of virus at them but only shot a hole in the ground. Quickly, Leo grabbed a Gemini twin underneath each arm and leapt across the gap in the ground to the others._

_"Let's move," he ordered._

_Gemi and Mini, being part glitch, didn't have the coding required to fight against a virus so Pisces quickly took them and ran. _

_"Let's crack this thing open and dedigitalize or reprogram the guy inside!" Leo exclaimed "_Electro-Regulus!_"_

_The virus cannon continued to shoot red balls of death at them. Opening her own code up to outside sources, Aries put her hands on the ground and rewrote the code of the ground to reach up at the virus cannon. A virus dedigitalized the ground and she dived out of the way. The virus cannon aimed again but at the still-in-sight Gemini and Pisces._

_"No!" Aries exclaimed._

_She ran to the duos that took up two of the twelve positions in their group. Leo turned to look at her and time seemed to slow down. Aries jumped up, into the way of the virus, and took the hit. The virus hit the left side of her torso and shot right through her but Pisces and Gemini had already moved thanks to the time Aries had bought them. _

_Aries went limp as she was thrown back and skidded away. Leo, panting, ran to her side and fell to his knees beside her. It took him a second to pull her into his arms as the shock of the situation settled in._

_"A-Aries?" Leo gasped in shock "D-Don't worry... I'll get you to a programmer and your coding will be fixed,"_

_Before he could lift her, she reached up and cupped his cheek. He looked down to see tears in her eyes and a smile on her face._

_"Leo... there's a virus... a programmer can't fix that," she said, shaking her head as if talking to a disobedient child "Th-Thank you... for being there for... me..." and her hand slid from his cheek._

_Leo felt like his heart was being ripped out as she disappeared in his arms. He tightened his grip on her until there was nothing to grip onto. It was as if the entire world shook as the loss set into him. Aries... one second, she was in his arms and they were laughing together... but... only a second later... she was gone..._

_"No..." the Techno Lion said under his breath "NO!" and he hit the ground._

_Leo's entire being began to spark with Electro-Regulus. With a continuous low growl, he ran from the spot his love had died and charged at the tank. Whoever was inside began firing at him but he instinctively dodged. Leo pounced and took hold of the nozzle of the cannon. He ripped it out and continued to rip the tank to shreds. When his destruction brought him to the cockpit, all he saw was red. _

* * *

><p>"Even though it's been two years now..." Leo explained "I'm still not sure of what happened. As soon as I clawed open the cockpit, everything went dark and... the next thing I knew, I was waking up after being sedated and told I had dedigitalized whoever was behind the virus. I killed the person who killed Aries and I don't even know who it was..."<p>

Aries stared at him as he messed with one of the flowers in the Glitch Zone.

"That... reminds me of something _my _Leo did for me," she said "We were under contract with an abusive Celestial Wizard called Karen Lillica. Since Leo was built to take punches, Karen abused me the most. Then she wanted to do something that could have killed me. Leo took my place in Earthland and refused to return to our world until she released us but... three months later, Karen tried to summon another spirit but didn't have the strength. She was killed and Leo was banished for it. Thanks to Miss Lucy, who is now both our contracted wizard, he's alive,"

Leo looked at her and she felt sheepish for forgetting that he didn't know what Earthland was.


End file.
